


You've Got A Smile That Could Light Up This Whole Town

by threeintelligentthoughts



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, Serenading, Trucks, tswizzle inspiration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 07:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23347351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threeintelligentthoughts/pseuds/threeintelligentthoughts
Summary: Niall is the boy next door that you never paid attention to, or at least not until you saw his white truck pull into the driveway that summer when he came home from his first year of college.
Relationships: Niall Horan/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9
Collections: Three Intelligent Thoughts- Quarantine Collection





	You've Got A Smile That Could Light Up This Whole Town

I didn’t know what it was about that old house that prompted me to spend unnecessarily long amounts of time staring at it from my window. The way my desk was positioned didn’t help either since I could stare it down for as long as I wanted to and do so comfortably.

Maybe it was the bedroom window that happened to magically align with my bedroom window. It was the manifestation of the metaphorical window of opportunity, even if the bedroom was too immaculate to be considered a place of rest and comfort. The bed was always made, the books and other interesting knick knacks that were on the desk were always neatly organized.

On a typical day, the curtain was always drawn back and there wasn’t a single soul in sight that could be seen occupying that poor room.

Here’s the thing- My family and I have been friends with our neighbors since I was little. Our very first interaction was that typical “you’re new here and our kids are about the same age; this is too good to be true so let’s split a bottle of wine over at our porch while the kids play outside” scenario.

If anything, being neighborhood pals with Georgia was pretty nice. She was my very first childhood friend and the first person I ever gave the best friend title to. She was the first sleepover I ever went to, and the day after, she came over to my house and my family got to host their first sleepover.

We were polar opposites. I wanted to play with my Barbie dolls, but she would show up with my doorstep with a case full of action figures. I obliviously asked her why she brought her brother’s toys when I had toys of my own, and she replied saying that all of the toys she brought were hers.

Playtime was very interesting. I don’t ever imagine a TV show being made about Spiderman saving Barbie from the evil clutches of Megatron, but our imaginations made it fun.

What I found intriguing were the times when I was at Georgia’s house. Every time I was over, there would be a faint drumming coming from the hallway. Everytime I asked Georgia about it, she would always go on a small vent about her brother and how she could always hear him playing some sort of music for most of the day, whether it was through the instruments he was learning how to play or the mindless drumming of a pencil on his desk. 

Even as we got older and I heard Georgia complain multiple times about her brother singing during the whole car ride from school that day, I couldn’t help but listen intently at the concoction of music that was being made just a couple of doors down.

Georgia and I unfortunately grew apart. It was the sad, but true story of any childhood friendship. We never ended on bad terms or got in a huge fight that ended in a nasty friend breakup, all I knew was that one moment, I was leaving Georgia’s house only to never hear from her ever again.

I have friends other than Georgia now, and I still look back at memories of us fondly, but sometimes I found myself staring at Georgia’s house from my window, wondering what could’ve been if we had continued to be friends as we got older.

It was the summer after I turned 16 when I first saw him from my bedroom window. It was another day of me neglecting the book in my lap only to stare at the bare bedroom next door, even if I knew that nothing in there had been moved, let alone touched.

I knew Georgia wasn’t home. Every summer, her parents always sent her off to some sort of camp. The type of camp varied according to whatever extracurricular activity she was involved in. The last summer I was friends with her, she went to cheer camp. She’s still a part of our school’s cheer team, so maybe she went to a different cheer camp this summer.

However, when I saw a white truck pull into the driveway, I was confused. Even if I didn’t talk to Georgia anymore, I knew she didn’t drive a truck, nor did I see her as a person who wanted to drive one.

I was taken aback when I saw her brother, Niall, crawl out of the driver’s seat.

He almost looked like a celebrity, sunglasses on to protect himself from the setting sun during his drive. He adjusted his black circle hat as he walked to the trunk and grabbed a guitar case to bring into the house.

I was in complete shock. This was him? The same Niall that Georgia and I heard drumming when we were 7?

The Niall that won “Most Talented” as a senior superlative when he graduated from high school last year simply because he was the only person in that whole school who could play more than one instrument?

He was always so quiet whenever we walked the same halls. At least Georgia would go out of her way to give me a quick smile when we crossed paths. He never necessarily went out of his way to bring attention to himself. Whenever I would arrive at school at the beginning of the day, I’d walk the halls and see different students almost every time, but before I even entered the building, I always passed by Niall sitting on the grass in the school’s courtyard, strumming away at his guitar.

Even on days when I was running late, he would still be playing the guitar like he didn’t have homeroom in 5 minutes.

I never heard him play the same melody twice, which meant that every new day brought on . something new from Niall and his trusty guitar.

I don’t believe in the concept of someone suddenly becoming attractive after going to college, but something about seeing Niall Horan in the driveway after spending a whole year in college made Niall glow, and I’m not talking about the glow of the sunset kissing his skin as he walked into the house.

Next thing I knew, the bedroom that was once empty filled with light, followed by Niall entering the room and gently placing his guitar case on the bed that hadn’t been touched for what felt like ages.

There was definitely no way I was getting back to my book. I couldn’t believe that all of my questions and speculations had been answered in a matter of minutes.

I don’t know why I didn’t look away when he started walking towards the window. Niall was about to draw the curtains, but paused to look out the window. When he looked over at my house and saw me staring back at him, I was embarrassed for him to see me snooping, but even with the distance between us, I was too busy getting lost in his ocean eyes to look away and give him some privacy.

Niall didn’t turn away. He didn’t grimace or immediately draw the curtains. His lips slightly curled up into a smirk that I would not have noticed if I hadn’t already been staring at him so intently, which made my heart bound despite being in different houses.

He gave me a slight nod and turned around, walking out of his bedroom with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

Did that really just happen?

I swiveled my chair to face away from the house for once, practically melting to the floor. How was it that my childhood best friend’s older brother could make me swoon after a small moment of staring into each other’s eyes with absolutely no words spoken between us?

I looked back out the window, Niall’s things still stranded in his bedroom. Where could he be?

I got my answer when I saw him come out of the house and grab his bags from his truck. He seemed to be carrying a rather big bag along with what I assumed was his book bag from school. His bag was way too big to only be visiting for the weekend.

Was he spending the summer back home from his first year of college?

I didn’t have time to ponder for much longer as Niall started turning his head in my direction after pausing to adjust the straps his bookbag. I refused to get caught in the act this time and turned away before he could catch me staring again. 

Did he turn around to see if I was still staring? Was he just admiring our house? Did he even look my way to begin with? I was too sheepish to try and check, and by the time I had the courage to turn back towards his house, he had already gone back inside.

I could see him unpacking from my window. I don’t know if Niall kept his curtains open because he wanted to admire the last of this evening’s sunset, or decided to change his mind about not leaving the curtains open the moment he saw me. Regardless, I kept replaying our small exchange over and over again that night, even after the sun had set and the night sky came out to hang the stars.

That summer, instead of reading or doing summer work that my school generously assigned, my free time at home would be spent sneaking peeks at the handsome stranger who lived next door.

He was constantly working on his music. I would look out my window periodically throughout the day and he would go from playing his guitar while sitting on the edge of his bed to still playing his guitar, but from the beanbag chair in the corner of his bedroom. 

Whenever he played, he was so determined, yet at the same time you could tell he would get lost in his music. It was like he was off in his own little musical world. It didn’t help that he could go for long periods of time without noticing that I was staring from my window as he was singing.

We still exchanged some glances periodically throughout the summer. Some days, I’d hear his truck drive in while I was reading at my desk and by the time I even bothered to look up, he’d be right there in his bedroom and our eyes would meet, which resulted in an exchange of friendly smiles.

Other times, we would catch each other’s gaze early in the morning. I would go up to my window the moment I got out of bed to check on my plants on the windowsill, and he’d either be staring off into space while he was figuring out the chords to a song on his guitar or writing what I assumed were song lyrics in a leather-bound notebook, which probably housed all of the songs he had written or was in the process of writing.

At night, we would both hang our curtains so that the sun wouldn’t peer through our windows the next day. However, I noticed that on nights when I stayed up later than he did, I could still see light seeping from his navy blue curtains every now and then, but I honestly didn’t give it a second thought.

August rolled around before I knew it, which also meant no more sneaking glances at Niall’s bedroom window, no more seeing his white truck in the driveway, and his bedroom would transform in a sad and unoccupied one with the bed made at all times.

I left the house to go into town and do my annual August 1st back-to-school shopping. There was something about opening a new pack of pencils and using them on a planner that had yet to be written in that really signaled that clean slate that was desperately needed with the beginning of every school year.

My bags of school supplies rested safely and were tucked away on the floor of the back row in my car. I cruised around town with the radio playing, nothing but a blue sky in front of me and not a single cloud in sight. I rolled the windows down, the breeze acting as a breath of fresh air to combat the summer heat.

I noticed that Niall’s truck wasn’t in the driveway when I got home. While it wasn’t a complete shock to me since summer was about to end, I didn’t think he’d be back at college so soon.

By the time I brought all of my school supplies to my room, I couldn’t help but notice that the curtains in Niall’s bedroom were hung again.

It was a bummer knowing that I couldn’t look into his bedroom and reminisce over the summer where I was crushing over the college boy next door, but I knew that this was just a silly crush and that was all it would ever be.

I spent the rest of my afternoon cleaning my room to get my mind off of Niall officially being gone. I even went as far as lugging the huge vacuum my family owned up the stairs so that I could vacuum my floor. 

Once my room was basically spotless, I dragged my finger across the spines of books on my shelf, choosing a book to read at my desk to reward myself for being so productive today.

After choosing a book and pulling it from the shelf, I went over and sat at my desk. Before I could even get settled in and crack my book open, something caught my eye.

Something outside my window.

The white truck that I thought I would never see again was parked out in the driveway, and this time Niall was standing on the tailgate, guitar in hand and everything.

And just like what happened the first day I saw that truck pull into the driveway, I felt my heart rush as our eyes met again.

Niall cleared his throat awkwardly, and I realized not just how strange this was for me, but also for him. I mean, here he was, standing in his truck and trying to woo the attention of his neighbor whom he had never shared anything beyond an exchange of smiles with.

To make this moment feel less weird for the both of us, I gave him an encouraging smile, opened my window, and leaned against the windowsill, indicating that I was ready to listen to whatever musical serenade he had prepared.

Realizing that my attention was all on him, he adjusted his fingers on the neck of his guitar, preparing himself to strum the first chord. After looking down at his guitar to make sure he was ready to play, he looked back up at me as he started the song.

I could feel myself getting lost in his eyes again, just like I did when summer first began.

As Niall played the introduction to the song, the melody coming from his guitar was unfamiliar to my ears. Was it a cover of a song I had never heard of? Was it one of the songs he had written this summer?

I suddenly thought back to those nights where Niall’s light was still on but his curtains kept me from seeing what he was doing. Could it be that he spent those nights writing this song? Was this a song that he had written for me?

As the song progressed, I found the answers to the questions that were swimming through my head as he sang. His beautiful voice sang the lyrics that I knew were directed at me and were meant to speak to my soul about how we both presumably felt over the span of this summer.

And I want to tell you everything  
The words I never got to say the first time around  
And I remember everything  
From when we were the children playing in this fairground  
Wish I was there with you now

As if the whole world was watching I’d still dance with you  
Drive highways and byways to be there with you  
Over and over the only truth  
Everything comes back to you  
You still make me nervous when you walk in the room  
Them butterflies, they come alive when I’m next to you  
Over and over the only truth  
Everything comes back to you

The song was beautiful. Niall’s golden voice seemed to pour seamlessly into the sweet melody from his acoustic guitar.

His voice felt like the ambience you experience during an evening car ride down a quiet road - the type of evening where it wasn’t necessarily late enough to be completely dark, the sky still a tinted and rusty lavender that represented the leftover remnants of the fiery sunset from only moments ago. It’s a ride peaceful enough that you could accidentally miss your turn and mindlessly drive down an unfamiliar path for hours until you finally realize that you’re lost.

As Niall strummed the last chord, I was at a loss for words. The moment was too intimate for me to start clapping, especially since I was the only supposed audience member. It felt weird to be bland and introduce myself after Niall had just basically poured his heart out to me.

Without thinking, I rushed out of my bedroom and flew down the stairs.

I could feel my heart pounding as I began to open the front door to my house. In just a few short moments, I would finally get to see those stormy blue eyes up close, and I couldn’t wait to properly get lost in them.

As I swung the front door open, I didn’t expect Niall to be right at my doorstep. Thankfully, I was able to stop myself before throwing myself into him.

We both took a moment to be in awe of the fact that for once, we were actually face-to-face rather than peering at each other through glass.

I found it so adorable that he still had his guitar strapped across his chest. During the whole summer, I never saw him without a guitar nearby. Even if he was just writing songs, I could still see it resting on the guitar stand that was on the other end of his room.

I had to wipe the deer-in-the-headlights expression mixed with the head-over-heels gaze I probably had from seeing Niall up close and personal for the first time.

I needed to snap out of it, I had a neighborhood crush that I had to win over. (Even if I was pretty sure that I already had.) 

“It’s Niall, right? If you’d like to come in, I can get a pot of coffee started.” I suggested with a light chuckle. “I’d also love to hear more of what I heard outside, if that’s fine with you.”

When I saw Niall’s eyes light up, I could feel the rush of knowing that I would finally get to know the boy next door.

**Author's Note:**

> hello friends i hope you enjoyed my first big boi work! she ended up being a whopping 3k words with one line of dialogue which I did NOT plan but here we are. shoutout to the iconic taylor swift and her you belong with me mv, which was the inspiration for this whole thing (even the title teehee). hope u all enjoyed the new read and i will see you all next week xoxo ninut


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